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Patented Dec, I3, I898.

J. .L. BURTON.

B 0 TT L E (Application filed Sept. 6, 1898.)

(No Model.)

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NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES L. BURTON, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- I'IA'LF TO ALBIN A. JOHNSON, OF SAME PLACE.

BOTTLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 615,800, dated December 13, 1898.

Application filed September 6 1898- Serial No. 690,267. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Beit known that 1, JAMES L. BURTON, a citizen of the United States, residin gin New Britain, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bottles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to bottles, and more especially to a means for preventing the fraudulent reuse thereof after the original contents have been poured therefrom, and the improved bottle is intended, primarily, for receiving proprietary goods and may be provided with a distinguishing label or revenuestamp, and my improvements are of such a nature that if an attempt is made completely to remove the label or stamp the bottle will be mutilated or partially destroyed, so that should the bottle be refilled anda new stamp or label applied the imposition could be readily detected.

My improved bottle embodies in the organization thereof herein illustrated a stopper-receiving portion having a channel so located as to form a wall that is more frangible than the remainder of the bottle, a stopper, a label, and a seal for the label, located in said channel, the latter in the present case being annular and surrounding the mouth or discharge-orifice of the bottle.

The bottle, except as hereinafter specified, may be of any suitable form, and its neck is preferably provided with a deep annular recess or channel so situated as to produce a thin wall, and this recess serves as a pocket to receive a seal for permanently securing a label or stamp to the bottle, said label usually passing over the stopper and its opposite ends being disposed in such recess or channel. By such location of the recess or channel two walls are formed, and it will be understood from the foregoing description that one of these walls is much thinner than the other and that such thin wall may be readily fractured, so that on an attempt being made to melt that portion of the seal which is against said thin wall for the purpose of detaching the label such thin wall will immediately break, thereby mutilatin g the bottle to such an extent as to indicate at once the reimprovements.

moval of the original label, and hence the original contents of the bottle, in case the latter should have been refilled, another label applied, and an attempt made to sell the refilled bottle.

It will be obvious, therefore, from the foregoing that my improvements involve a bottle having a frangible or breakable portion, a stopper for the bottle, and means for securing the stopper in place, said means including a seal situated in immediate proximity to such frangible portion and the frangible portion and the seal being of different degrees of heat resistance.

In the drawings accompanying and forrnin g part of this specification, Figure l is a perspective View of a bottle-neck embodying my 4 Fig. 2 is a central cross-sectional view of the same, showing also a portion of the body of the bottle. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a stopper-holder; and Fig. i is a view corresponding to Fig. 2, illustrating a modified form of the stopper-sealing means.

Similar characters designate like parts in all the figures of the drawings.

In the drawings the bottle B, of ordinary construction, except as hereinafter specified, consists of a body portion 1), Fig. 2, and a stopper-receiving portion or neck 01-, in which the stopper or cork s is inserted. The neck n terminates in the present case in a shoulder or enlargement 2, in which the annular and comparatively deep recess or channel 3 is formed, the channel being so located as to form the walls 4.- and 5 of different thicknesses, the inner wall 4 being shown in Figs. 1 and 2 as much thinner than the outer Wall 5, by reason of which it is more easily broken, and while said inner wall is thus represented it is evident that this relation can be reversed and the same advantages secured.

When the stopper 8 is in the bottle, it is permanently secured in place by means including a seal, which preferably fills the recess or space 3, and should an attempt be made to melt or otherwise remove the seal the thin wall 4 would at once break, thereby indicating the fact that the bottle had been tampered with.

In placing whiskies and certain proprietary medicines upon the market it is customary to apply distinguishinglabels orrevenue-stamps to the bottles which pass over the stoppers or corks, and to effect the removal of the contents of the bottles it is necessary to tear or destroy the labels before the corks can be withdrawn, and with the old style of bottles the torn labels or stamps could be'readily detached, so that the bottles could be refilled and counterfeit labels or revenue-stamps applied, the bottles of course being refilled with inferior liquids. By my improvements, however, these frauds are positively prevented, as the labels or stamps cannot be wholly removed without mutilating the bottle to such an extent that if the bottle is refilled, restoppered, and relabeled the imposition can be detected at a glance.

I11 practice the bottle B is first filled and the stopper inserted in theneck, after which a label Z is applied, the opposite ends of the label being placed in the recess and said label stretched tightly against the top of the stopper and permanently sealed in place.

In corking fermented and effervescent liquid I may employ a stopper-holder II of wire, consisting of a substantially rectangular portion 6, adapted to straddle the inner thin wall 4 of the neck on the outside of the label, and the an choring-arms or branches 7, extending laterally from the upright or vertical members (5 and 6", adapted to lie in the recess 3. After the stopper, the label, and the stopper-holder II are in place the recess 3 is filled with a seal, as S, of wax, cement, or other like material. Should an attempt be made to pry off the stopper-holder H, the seal or cement S, acting against the lateral branches or anchoringarms 7, will prevent this operation, and to guard against the withdrawal of the seal or cement S, which may be acid-proof, the recess is provided with an overhanging shoulder or ridge 8, which acts as a stop to bar the seal from being pulled from the recess in case it should fail to adhere to the bottle.

In Fig. 2 the bottle is shown thickened, as at 9, just below the wall 4, and such thickened portion receives the lateral strain exerted by the cork on the insertion thereof, it being understood, of course, that when the bottle is stoppered the seal serves to reinforce the thin wall, so that there is no possibility of the latter being broken, except when an attempt is made to remove the label.

In Fig. 4. I have represented the bottleneck as having two sections (designated, respectively, by w and y) and separated by the recess 3, forming a seal-chamber and intended also for receiving the stopper-holder and the label, and in this connection the outer wall of the bottle is shown as the frangible one. After filling the bottle represented in Fig. 4 the stopper is first placed in the auxiliary or internal section 00 of the neck, and the stopper is then put into the main portion y of the neck until the upper faces of the two parts are flush, the auxiliary section of the neck having an annular positioning-groove 10 to receive the similarly-shaped flange 10 upon the main section y of the neck, after which the label and stopper-holder are successively applied. When the parts are thus assembled, the space or recess is filled with a seal or cement, when the bottle is ready for the market. In some cases the stopper-holder H maybe dispensed with.

Having described my invention, I claim 1. A bottle of the class specified including a stopper-receiving portion having a channel provided with an integral thin wall that is more frangible than the remainder of the bottle; a stopper; a label fitting over the stopper and having its ends disposed in said channel; and a meltable seal adapted to be poured into said channel.

2. A bottle of the class specified provided with a neck having a channel provided with an integral thin wall that is more frangible than the remainder of the bottle; a stopper; alabel fitting over the stopperand having its ends disposed in said channel at opposite sides of the stopper; and a meltable seal adapted to be poured into said channel.

3. A bottle of the class specified including a stopper-receiving portion having a channel provided with an integral thin wall that is more frangible than the remainder of the bottle, and the latter also having a thickened portion beneath said thin wall to receive the pressure exertedby a stopper; a stopper; a label fitting over the stopper and having its ends disposed in said channel; and a meltable seal adapted to be poured into said channel and serving, when cold, to hold the label in place.

4. A bottle of the class specified including a stopper-receiving portion having a channel so located as to form a thin wall that is more frangible than the remainder of the bottle; alabel fitting over the stopper; an anchoring-holder for the label, having its opposite ends located in said channel; and a seal adapted to be poured into said channel.

5. A bottle of the class specified provided with a neck having a main section and an auxiliary section located in said main section and serving to receive a stopper, and the two sections being independent and separated by a space, and one of them being thicker than the other; a stopper fitting in said auxiliary section; a label; and a seal for the label, filling said space.

JAMES L. BURTON.

Witnesses:

WM. H. BLODGETT, HENRY BIssELL. 

